The Child and Youth Prevalence of Obesity Study (CAYPOS) has been conducted biennially from 2005 through 2017 by researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Jerome Kolbo. The multi-year study uses school nurses to collect height and weight measurements on a representative sample of public school students statewide in grades K through 12 in order to determine the prevalence of obesity among public school students and examine trends. One of the key findings of the … Read more...
Tag Archives: Child Health
Preventing Unintended Pregnancy in Mississippi
The majority of new mothers in Mississippi report that their pregnancies were unintended, according to the most recently available survey data collected by the Mississippi State Department of Health. The social and economic implications of unplanned pregnancy for women, families and the state are wide-reaching and enduring. Considering the broad array of contraception on the market and the availability of family planning services in publicly funded clinics across the state, Mississippi’s high rate of unintended pregnancy is concerning and deserves … Read more...
Implementing Sex-Related Education in Mississippi Public Schools
In 2011, the Mississippi Legislature enacted a law (§37-13-171 et seq.) that required each local school board to adopt an abstinence-only or abstinence-plus policy on sex-related education (SRE) and to implement an SRE curriculum beginning in the 2012-13 school year. This law is scheduled to expire July 1, 2016, unless the Legislature takes action to extend the act.
Since enactment of the law in 2011, the Center for Mississippi Health Policy has conducted several studies designed to provide information to … Read more...
Developmental Screening in Early Childhood
The Center for Mississippi Health Policy commissioned Mississippi State University’s Social Science Research Center (SSRC) to conduct a study implementing developmental screening in each of the eleven Pre-Kindergarten Early Learning Collaboratives funded by the State. The goal of the study was to determine the developmental concerns of children entering Pre-K in Mississippi and the policy implications that these needs have for the state.
The Study
The project used the Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3) and the Ages and … Read more...
Childhood Immunizations: Mississippi’s Mandatory School Immunization Law
Mississippi law mandates that all children attending school must be vaccinated against certain diseases. All states have similar laws but vary in the number and type of exemptions allowed. Mississippi allows only medical exemptions.
The Center for Mississippi Health Policy has prepared an Issue Brief that summarizes the scientific literature on the safety and efficacy of childhood immunizations, outlines the legal environment for Mississippi’s policies, and examines policy issues related to exemptions. A key focus of the policy analysis is … Read more...
